Welcome to Noel Michaels’ Weekend Winners, the place to go for weekend best bets and spot plays from veteran handicapper and tournament-play pioneer Noel Michaels. Check back every week for a couple of highlighted selections designed to help you cash a few bets and make some money.

Noel's selections have been featured just about everywhere horse racing picks can be found, including in print in the Daily Racing Form, The HorsePlayer Magazine and American Turf Monthly, online at DRF.com, Twinspires.com and USRacing.com, from the paddock on-track at Arlington International Racecourse, and on the air on HRTV, TVG, NYC OTB Extra, NYRA's Talking Horses, and on broadcast TV on WAVE-3 Louisville, ABC KOLO-8 in Reno, Nevada, and channel 72 Long Island Cablevision.

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Six Beginner Betting Tools

1. Start simple with an easy guide for how to bet on horse racing.
2. Not sure what that word means? Horse racing terminology is a language of its own. Allow us translate for you.
3. What the heck is a speed figure? This beginner’s guide to speed figures has everything you need to know.
4. Betting on horse racing can be intimidating. Team ABR put together some Dos and Don’ts for the new fan getting started betting on racing.
5. We all make mistakes when it comes to betting on horse racing, here are eight lessons learned from experience.
6. Figure out how much each bet will cost in advance with our Gambling Calculator, presented by NYRA Bets.

Saturday, July 29

We are just a week into the 2023 Del Mar summer meet and already the season has kicked into high gear this Saturday with a pair of the meet’s premier stakes races for older horses featured on the July 29 program – the Grade 2 San Diego Handicap for older horses going long and the Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes for sprinters. Both races drew high-quality fields loaded with good horses and will headline a tremendous 11-race card of southern California racing and wagering. Best of luck, and enjoy Saturday’s races from Del Mar.

Del Mar, Race 8, $300,000 San Diego Handicap, post time 8:30 p.m. ET

There are many very good horses entered in this Grade 2, 1 1/16-mile prep race for the upcoming FanDuel Racing Pacific Classic, but nevertheless this is a spot where favorite #6 Defunded is supposed to get the job done, and it would be somewhat surprising if he were to lose. Defunded comes in here off back-to-back Santa Anita Park stakes wins in the Grade 2 Californian Stakes and the Grade 1 Hollywood Gold Cup Stakes. None of the horses that beat him in his Grade 1 defeats earlier in the year are entered in this race, and there doesn’t seem to be another stand-up horse in the field ready to take the step up that would be necessary to beat him. The only possible question could be the San Diego’s 1 1/16-mile distance, which may be a tad shorter than what he prefers, but he has won at this distance before, and trainer Bob Baffert will have him ready to roll. So if you’re playing the favorite like I am, the way you’re going to have to try to make money in this race is by keying him on top in trifectas. With that in mind, let’s look for some horses that can round out the top three. #2 Royal Ship won this race last year and was in contention with Defunded through the first 1 1/16 miles of the 1 1/8-mile Californian two races ago, so it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him hit the board. #1 Slow Down Andy got good late last year and was third behind Cody’s Wish in the Big Ass Fans Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile. He returned from a layoff in a nearly impossible spot in the Grade 1 Hill ‘n’ Dale Metropolitan Handicap but will benefit from that outing and be much more dangerous in this second start off the layoff. Finally, one horse who could spice-up the exotics at a price is #9 Tisquantum, who never factored in a 1 ¼-mile race last time that might have been too far for him but had shown versatile ability in the two races prior at one mile, winning once on the lead and once when passing horses and coming from behind.

The Play: Bet to win on #6 Defunded (8-5), and key him on top of trifectas using #1 Slow Down Andy (5-1), #2 Royal Ship (6-1), and #9 Tisquantum (30-1) in the two underneath positions.

Del Mar, Race 10, $400,000 Bing Crosby Stakes, post time 9:30 p.m. ET

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The Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes drew a full 12-horse field set to go six furlongs in one of southern California’s top sprints on the annual stakes calendar. With veteran hard-hitters in the field such as #11 Dr. Schivel and #8 C Z Rocket, several of the entrants in this field seem a bit out-classed. In particular Dr. Schivel should be tough to beat in this spot. He’s a Del Mar horse for the course with three wins and a second in four career starts at this track. Toss out the loss at Belmont Park last time in the Met Mile, and what you have is a horse that looked as good as ever two races ago when blowing away C Z Rocket in a Santa Anita Park allowance on May 13, which was his last outing at the Bing Crosby’s six-furlong distance. The main challenger to Dr. Schivel will be #2 Spirit of Makena, a lightly-raced 5-year-old who has won four of his five lifetime outings including a big win last time in the Grade 2 Triple Bend Stakes at Santa Anita. He has never lost in four prior sprints and will be tough to beat. The other top challenger in the Bing Crosby field is #7 Anarchist, a horse that tends to settle for second a lot but who has been sneaky good in all of his races so far this year, including last time when second behind only Elite Power, the reigning sprint Eclipse Award champion.

The Play:  Bet #11 Dr. Schivel (7-2) to win and play exacta and trifecta boxes along with #2 Spirit of Makena (4-1), and #7 Anarchist (4-1).